Morkoth
Collectors of everything odd, unusual, and valuable—hopefully not including you. —Volo Ancient and devious, morkoths are voracious collectors. Each one travels the planes, amassing the valuables, oddities, and castoffs of the multiverse to make its collection ever more complete. Spawned by a God. Long ago, a deity of greed and strife perished in the battles among the immortals. Its body drifted through the Astral Plane, eventually becoming a petrified husk. This corpse floated up against a pearlescent remnant of celestial matter imbued with life and life-giving magic. The collision shattered both objects and released a storm of chaotic energy. Countless islands of mixed matter spun away into the silvery void. Within some of them, a vein of pearl-like material held a bit of the deity’s rejuvenated supernatural vitality, which spontaneously created a habitable environment. On those same islands, bits of the god’s petrified flesh came back to life, in the form of tentacled monstrosities brimming with malice and greed. Ever since that time, each morkoth has had an extraplanar island to call home. No Rhyme or Reason. A morkoth’s island has the qualities of a dreamscape in which nature and predictability take a back seat to strangeness and chaos. Upon it is a jumble of objects and a mixture of creatures, some of which date from forgotten times. An island might have natural-looking illumination, but most are shrouded in twilight, and on any of them, mists and shadows can appear without notice. The environment is warm and wet, a subtropical or tropical climate that keeps the morkoth and its “guests” comfortable. The pearly matter inside an island enables it to glide on planar currents, maintains the island’s environment, and keeps the place safe from harmful external effects. A morkoth’s island might be found anywhere from the bottom of the ocean to the void of the Astral Plane. One could float in the skies of Avernus in the Nine Hells without being destroyed and without causing harm to its residents. Whatever is on or within a certain distance of a morkoth’s isle travels with it in its journey through the planes. Thus, people from lost civilizations and creatures or objects from bygone ages might be found within a morkoth’s dominion. Some islands travel a specific route, arriving at the same destinations regularly over a cycle of years. Others are tied to a particular place or group of locales, and still others move erratically through the cosmos. Rarely, a morkoth learns to control its island’s movement, so the island goes wherever its master wishes. Primeval Hoarders. Morkoths are driven by greed and selfishness, mixed with a yearning for conflict. They desire anything they don’t possess, have no scruples about taking what they crave, and endeavor to keep everything they collect. A morkoth spends its time watching over its collection and plotting to acquire more possessions. The monster hoards vast stores of treasure and knowledge. Its island holds numerous captives, which it considers part of its collection. Some inhabitants, such as descendants of original prisoners, might view the morkoth as a ruler or a god. A morkoth’s storehouse of wealth and lore attracts would-be plunderers, of course, as well as those seeking something specific the morkoth has or knows. The creature shows no mercy to those that try to steal from it, but it can be bargained with by a visitor that offers the morkoth something it desires. No morkoth freely gives away what it owns. Morkoths exist to acquire, and they give up possessions only if doing so helps their hoard grow. A morkoth knows every object in its collection and can track its possessions through the planes. Someone who dares to steal from a morkoth, or breaks a deal with one, will know no rest until the morkoth is slain or all promises are kept.